By Louis Woodhill, Contributor
By all accounts, the Japanese Kamikaze pilots in WWII were earnest, dedicated young men. House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan is an earnest, dedicated young man. The principal difference between Chairman Ryan and a Kamikaze pilot is that the Japanese aviators got only one shot, while Ryan has managed to fly three suicide missions in three years. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
By Daniel Noe
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan addressed an enthusiastic group of conservative activists during ACU’s annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC 2013) in the Washington, D.C. area. The Wisconsin Congressman and former Republican Vice Presidential nominee was introduced by Al Cardenas, ACU’s President, to a standing ovation.
Chairman Ryan’s full remarks as prepared for delivery are below [YouTube video also available further below]:
“Thanks, Al. I’m happy to be here. We all need a break from the mess in Washington. And CPAC is just the occasion. It’s a time to take stock, to catch up with friends, and to plan for the future. It’s also a relief to see a room full of conservatives for a change. So I’m grateful for the chance to speak with you today. Thanks again, everybody.
This has been a big week. We got white smoke from the Vatican—and a budget from the Senate. The Senate calls their budget a Foundation for Growth: Restoring the Promise of American Opportunity. Wow, I feel like saluting already. But when you read it, you find the Vatican’s not the only place blowing smoke this week. They call their budget a balanced approach. But the thing is—they never balance the budget—ever. In fact, they call for another trillion-dollar tax hike on top of even more spending.
We take the opposite approach. And I’m proud of our budget—because it’s changed the conversation. Today, we’re not talking about cliffs or ceilings or sequesters. We’re talking about solutions. That’s how it should be. Our budget expands opportunity by growing the economy. It strengthens the safety net by retooling government. It restores fairness by ending cronyism. And by setting priorities and choosing wisely, it pays off our debt. In fact, we balance the budget in just ten years—without raising taxes.
How do we do it? It’s pretty simple: We stop spending money we don’t have. Historically, we’ve paid a little less than one-fifth of our income in taxes to the federal government each year. But the government has spent a lot more. So our budget matches spending with income. We say to Washington, “What we’re willing to pay is what you’re able to spend. Period.” Every family lives within a budget. Washington should do the same.
But the crucial question isn’t how we balance the budget. It’s why. The budget is a means to an end. We’re not balancing the budget as an accounting exercise. We’re not just trying to make the numbers add up. We are trying to improve people’s lives. Our debt is a threat to our country. We have to tackle this problem before it tackles us. So today I want to make the case for balance. That case—in a nutshell—is that a balanced budget will promote a healthier economy. It will create jobs. And nothing is more urgent.
Just look at where we are—and where we’re going. Last quarter, the economy grew by a hair. Unemployment is 7.7 percent. And 46 million people are living in poverty. The President says we’re in a recovery. I’d say we’re in critical care. Farther down the road, things will get worse. By the end of 2023, the economy will be at a crawl. And we will have added $8 trillion to our debt. That debt will weigh down the country like an anchor.
In short, we’re on the verge of a debt crisis. Our obligations are growing faster than our ability to pay them. Our debt is already bigger than our economy. At some point, lenders will lose confidence in us. They will demand higher interest rates. And when they do, interest rates across the country will skyrocket—on mortgages, on credit cards, on car loans. Pressed for cash, the government probably would take the easy way out: It would crank up the …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Western Journalism
Though Congress and the president have still not finalized this year’s federal spending plan,they are nonetheless moving ahead with next year’s.
House Republicans, under the leadership of Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., have produced a document that balances the federal ledger in 10 years. Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., are lagging behind, but they have an excuse. They are out of practice, having failed to produce and pass a budget for more than 1,400 days. They are also apparently stuck, unable to find the $1 trillion in new taxes they want to fuel yet another increase in spending. President Barack Obama, meanwhile, is on the sidelines. The White House missed the statutory deadline for delivering its budget document to Congress and is, technically anyway, in violation of the law. Guess what is getting all the attention?
In a rational world, the Senate Democrats having passed no budget for almost five years and White House being late with its own would be at least as interesting as what Chairman Ryan has proposed. Unfortunately Washington is not a rational place, so the Ryan document has commanded the most attention.
It is a cheerful document. In addition to getting the budget in balance in 10 years it repeals the funding for Obamacare while pushing for much-needed reforms in other aspects of the federal government. The Ryan budget goes a long way toward accomplishing what the Heritage Foundation defines as the six essential goals of budget policy: Get to balance in a decade without raising taxes; defund Obamacare in its entirety; overhaul entitlement programs like Social Security in a way that keeps the promise made to America’s seniors while forestalling its impending bankruptcy; fully fund national defense; roll back discretionary spending; and lay the groundwork for fundamental tax reform with federal revenues at the post-war historical average of 18.5 percent of U.S. GDP.
That is not to say the Ryan budget accomplishes all these things—but it comes closer than what either the Democrats or President Obama have proposed thus far because they have proposed nothing. We do know, thanks to White House spokesman Jay Carney, that whatever Obama proposes it will not balance—ever.
Read More at US News . By Peter Roff.
